Letter Sounds & pronunciation

Question 0

B b

Answer 0

Bay; baby

Question 1

A a

Answer 1

Ah; astronaut

Question 2

C c

Answer 2

Tsay; creative, Celsius( soft c sound in German sounds like ts)

Question 3

D d

Answer 3

Day; dollar

Question 4

E e

Answer 4

Ey; elegant

Question 5

F f

Answer 5

Eff; effort

Question 6

G g

Answer 6

Gay; gorgeous

Question 7

H h

Answer 7

Haa; hammer

Question 8

I i

Answer 8

Eeh; Igor

Question 9

J j

Answer 9

Yot; yellow

Question 10

K k

Answer 10

Kah; camel

Question 11

L l

Answer 11

Ell; love

Question 12

M m

Answer 12

Em; man

Question 13

N n

Answer 13

En; nice

Question 14

O o

Answer 14

Oh; oven

Question 15

P p

Answer 15

Pay; party

Question 16

Q q

Answer 16

Koo; coral

Question 17

R r

Answer 17

Ehr; rich

Question 18

S s

Answer 18

Es; zoo, shine, mouse

Question 19

T t

Answer 19

Tay; tyrant

Question 20

U u

Answer 20

Ooh; sounds like Spanish ‘u’

Question 21

V v

Answer 21

Fow; father

Question 22

W w

Answer 22

Vay; van

Question 23

X x

Answer 23

Ix; sounds like ‘kz’

Question 24

Y y

Answer 24

Ep-si-lohn; yellow

Question 25

Z z

Answer 25

Tzet; makes ‘ts’ sound

Question 26

Ä ä

Answer 26

Similar to ‘e’ in melon

Question 27

Ö ö

Answer 27

Similar to ‘i’ in girl

Question 28

Ü ü

Answer 28

No equivalent in English; sounds kind of like ‘ew’ in ewie (as in gross)

Question 29

ß

Answer 29

Esszet; makes an English ‘s’ sound

Question 30

If a word ends in -ig the -g makes the same sound as ‘ch’ in Bach.

Answer 30

If a word starts with st- or sp- the ‘s’ makes the ‘sh’ sound. However, in northern Germany they simply pronounce it like ‘s’.

Question 31

If an ‘h’ follows a vowel then the vowel is long.

If a word has ‘th’ it simply makes a ‘t’ sound.

Answer 31

If a word has a double consonant (e.g. -nn) following a vowel then the vowel is short.

Question 32

The spelling ‘sch’ is pronounced as the English ‘sh.’

The spelling ‘eu’ is pronounced as ‘oy.’

Answer 32

The spelling ‘ie’ is pronounced simply as the ‘e’ sound.

The spelling ‘ei’ is pronounced as ‘ay’ in ‘hay.’